Interesting stuff about how aerospace combustion emissions above the tropopause might affect radiation and composition in the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and ionosphere.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Rocket Emissions and the Montreal Protocol

One of the most interestingcomments in response toRoss et al. (2009) was from David Fahey of NOAA's Chemical Science Division. David in a key figure involved with the many and varied scientific aspects of ozone layer protection. See here for a nice review by David.

Here his comment: "There's a number of exemptions to the protocol," he said. "Each one by itself is small, but if you go too far, it could be death by a thousand cuts."

Often it is difficult to make reccomendations without falling to the "Cassandra Complex" but the space industry should take an interest in not being one of the thousand cuts.